Is Disneyland shooting themselves in the foot?

[CrazyDuck]

And by no means do I mean that this should only be for Canadians,but what about someone travelling from the east coast of the US.Would the option of more than 5 days make them stay longer and spend more.I just think the price gap between an AP and a 5 day is too big and Disneyland is losing out on some easy money.Wasn't the biggest knock on local AP's that they weren't spending any money in the park and now they have scaled back on the number of days that out of town guests will be spending their hard earned dollars in the parks.At $100 a day on meals and snacks times how many people....

I travel from Hawaii and our trips are usually once a year but we stay for at least 7days. The fact that they have decided to limit the number of days we can go to the parks is really pissing me off. I didn't mind paying $5 or $10 for the 6th day but I'm not going to pay $150 to upgrade to a DAP because "it makes sense". We are the type of family that Disney loves... We'll drop $1000 a day in the parks, but if they want to keep us out of the parks I'll just take my money to Legoland, Universal or 6flags...

 

[kailuagirl]

I am also from Hawaii and my disney loving family also prefers the 6 day hoppers as well. With the "time" difference it makes it hard for my DD4 to get up early, 7am there here 4am or 5 depending on DST, so getting to the parks on early days is very difficult. So the 6 days really helped us to better enjoy the parks. 5 days is just not enough for us, we tried it. DD asks almost everyday as it is to go to DL. 6 days gives us enough of a "fix" to last us until the following year when we can go again. We stay at the GCH and spend alot of money to enjoy our Disney vacation with our daughter, just a bummer.

 

[Susie63]

Well I am glad that I am not crazy and this doesn't make sense to others who travel long distances.Are you listening Disney? We don't want AP's.....we are not going more than once a year and we want to stay more than a week and give you all our money....
Hey...if they can do AP's for only Cali residents(proof of ID)why can't they do longer hoppers for people outside Cali.Turn in your voucher and show your ID before you get your PH. Work with me here people

 

[hlbtimes2]

The issue wasn't the hopper-it was the hotel room reservation so my reservation is through DLH for 2 nights and then through Costco for 4 nights + 6 day hopper. DLR would not let costco book me for 6 nights + hopper-I needed two separate reservations. (this was through the phone)

Costco has never been able to book more than 4 nights at a time for Disneyland.

 

[blackjackdelta]

I am also from Hawaii and my disney loving family also prefers the 6 day hoppers as well. With the "time" difference it makes it hard for my DD4 to get up early, 7am there here 4am or 5 depending on DST, so getting to the parks on early days is very difficult. So the 6 days really helped us to better enjoy the parks. 5 days is just not enough for us, we tried it. DD asks almost everyday as it is to go to DL. 6 days gives us enough of a "fix" to last us until the following year when we can go again. We stay at the GCH and spend alot of money to enjoy our Disney vacation with our daughter, just a bummer.

We have always purchased 6 day PH's with only one vacation a year we like to stay a week.

Jack

 

[SA mom]

We are WDW veterans making our first DL trip this month. Woo hoo! We bought the 6 day park hopper in March with the AAA Passport Plus. I am so glad we did. Had we been able to book a 5 for 3 deal, we would have gone with that. However, I am glad to have an extra day if needed since we will arrive after Carsland opens.

Lodging will be a major deciding factor in our upcoming trips. We use the Starwoods AmEx and stay on points. It will be the Swan versus Sheraton Park for us.

 

[jilld11]

Sorry for you guys that can't get what you need My only guess is that they didn't sell. Like I said in an earlier post, I am in the Edmonton area for over 15 years and I have never, ever sold a 7 or 8 day park hopper so they may have just decided it's not worth it. I have worked full time for 3 major Canadian agencies and have asked my coworkers and only a handful had ever sold them. That being said, you should contact your travel agent and have them talk to their sales rep from Holiday House/Fun Sun, Westjet Vacations, Western Vacations, etc. and have your agent complain to them. That would be much more useful than complaining to a CM on the 1-800 Disney #. IMO. However, when our sales rep asks how many a year we sell and we say none, I'm sure they will say then what's the problem. But I certainly will mention it and hope you guys will be able to get them back.

 

[BNM]

This year we got the 4 day hopper at DL and stayed 4 nights. Next year I'd like to have 6 day tickets and stay 7 nights. I liked the Costco package but it looks like I'll have to either combine it with a separate reservation, as PP did, or do a split stay with offsite, or try to rent dvc points.

And what to do about the tickets? Will Costco even sell us a six day next year? I know DLR no longer plans to sell the 6 day. For us it takes all day to get there, so one of the park days is only used in the evening. This is fine if it only costs 5-10 extra to add the day, but otherwise.....I don't know.

 

[hlbtimes2]

In my opinion there are a couple things at play, and no I dont think Disney shot themselves in the foot.
1) there is a lot of abuse of people sharing tickets or reselling partially used tickets. If someone has a 3, 4 or 5 day ticket they are more than likely going to use all the days themselves. You bump it up to 6,7 or 8 and it makes it pretty easy to sell those unused days or sell them to another family. For example, my family just went for 5 days. Our friends came in part way thru the trip. It would have been really easy for us to hand off our hoppers to them, had they been 7-8 day hoppers. They could have used the remaining time. Ebay is full of partially used tickets.
2). Look at the overall cost per day and think of the operating costs Disney has. Why should they let you come for day 6,7 and 8 for $12 a day? They still have to pay for employees, insurance, fireworks, etc, etc, etc. Yes, I know they bring in a lot of money a day. I also know they SPEND a lot of money a day to keep things going. If they can get you to pay $58 a day (5 day hopper $290= $58 a day) why let you in for $12? What would that $12 cover? Not much!
To further break it down.. lets see what you get for $58 a day:
13-17 hours a day of park time depending on hours. Thats $3.50-4.50 per hour
unlimited number of rides on attractions
multiple parades each day
night time shows-F!, fireworks, World of Color
music acts
comedy acts
etc, etc, etc
The list goes on! Its really not a bad value.
Why should Disney give you more days?

 

[hlbtimes2]

Oh, and to even break it down a little more... if you bought an DAP and used it 8 days we are back to the $58 per day, just like a 5 day hopper. Must be the magic number they've decided they need from each person per day.

 

[cgh]

Costco has never been able to book more than 4 nights at a time for Disneyland.

My point wasn't that this had changed-but moreso that Disney has been trying to reduce the number of days for visits. Why not sell 5 or 6 nights in the hotel? My guess is because they'd rather have more unique visitors for shorter amount of time.

And personally, I find it rather unconscionable that someone would share an annual pass or sell remaining days. That's clearly stealing and how could anyone think that okay? I wish that Disney was more proactive in combatting this-perhaps the true issue. Perhaps putting names on the tickets and then ID needs to be shown if its been a couple days since it was used? Exceptions for people staying onsite? (assumably if someone is shelling out $400 a night to stay on property they would be more likely to go in to the park for the duration?) But, I think its clear they prefer shorter visits.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Disney does not limit your stay to 5-6 nights. However their contract with Costco limits booking that many days thru Costco travel. You can book for longer periods of time thru Disney travel.

And yes I agree, it's not right to share tickets. But people do it all the time. Disney tries to control, and has failed. So, next step is for them to limit tickets to reduce the risk. Annual passes have names and pictures, so you can't share. And if they catch ou trying they can revoke your pass.

 

[alicia1506]

as a visitor from australia, we visited DLR in nov 2011 and will be there again for 10 days in dec 2012. we will then be visiting wdw in sept 2013 for 7 nights, and dlr in sept 2013 for 5 nights.

we prefer dlr to be honest as it has much the same rides as MK and HS (with a few notable exceptions) but within a smaller area, so that after getting off a 14 hour + plane ride, we don't have to then travel for hours just to get from point a to b to c etc like you do at wdw. everything at dlr is within walking distance. it's also the original park and it's where the magic began.

to get to wdw, we fly 14+ hours just to hit lax, then a further 3-4 hours in layover, then a 5-6 hr flight from lax - mco. that's a lot of distance travelled, and depending on work, if you can't spend at least 2 weeks in wdw, it's not really worth all the extra travel and flight time as you have to combat some major jet lag and weather acclimation which usually take a few days to get over.

we have purchased the 14 day park hopper for our 10 day trip this year for some in our party, and deluxe APs for others in our party. as we plan on heading back to DLR in sept 2013, we will be able to really get the value for money from 10 days this year then another 5 next year.

i know a lot of my friends who visit the usa from australia prefer to stay at wdw for the longer stays (usually 1.5 - 2 weeks) and shorter stays at DLR purely for logistical reasons rather than $$ concerns.

depending on time of year, wdw can be even more $$ than disneyland, as at least with disneyland there is economical offsite accomodation, whereas with wdw, even the value resorts can be more expensive than offsite accom at dlr.

just my $0.02

 

[mikana876]

I know that for us, cost of travel factors in more then cost of tickets. We can pay $110 in gas with a 12-15 hour drive (depending on how often we stop for breaks) to get to DLR or $500-$700 per person to fly to WDW. For us it's a no brainer.

 

[Susie63]

as a visitor from australia, we visited DLR in nov 2011 and will be there again for 10 days in dec 2012. we will then be visiting wdw in sept 2013 for 7 nights, and dlr in sept 2013 for 5 nights.

we prefer dlr to be honest as it has much the same rides as MK and HS (with a few notable exceptions) but within a smaller area, so that after getting off a 14 hour + plane ride, we don't have to then travel for hours just to get from point a to b to c etc like you do at wdw. everything at dlr is within walking distance. it's also the original park and it's where the magic began.

to get to wdw, we fly 14+ hours just to hit lax, then a further 3-4 hours in layover, then a 5-6 hr flight from lax - mco. that's a lot of distance travelled, and depending on work, if you can't spend at least 2 weeks in wdw, it's not really worth all the extra travel and flight time as you have to combat some major jet lag and weather acclimation which usually take a few days to get over.

we have purchased the 14 day park hopper for our 10 day trip this year for some in our party, and deluxe APs for others in our party. as we plan on heading back to DLR in sept 2013, we will be able to really get the value for money from 10 days this year then another 5 next year.

i know a lot of my friends who visit the usa from australia prefer to stay at wdw for the longer stays (usually 1.5 - 2 weeks) and shorter stays at DLR purely for logistical reasons rather than $$ concerns.

depending on time of year, wdw can be even more $$ than disneyland, as at least with disneyland there is economical offsite accomodation, whereas with wdw, even the value resorts can be more expensive than offsite accom at dlr.

just my $0.02

Have you heard anything about the 14 day PH being discontinued as it appears that the 8 day PH will no longer be available for Canadians.